air tools

So I'm going to start a tear down and rebuild of a vw bus and thinking about air tools. I'm really only going to be using one tool t a time. How big of an air compressor do I really need? Do I really need to get a 30 gallon or would a 20 gallon work. What are y'alls recommendation for a compressor and tools. I know you get what you pay for but mind you that I'm not a full time wrench turner. This project is going to e done in my spare time.

 

Biggest thing to keep in mind is not tank size, although that is important since it will dictate how often the compressor kicks on, the thing to look for is CFM @90 psi. Here's some good info on this page, here's another page or just google - minimum cfm to run air tools -

Even if you're not a full time wrencher, there's nothing more frustrating than waiting for an air compressor to 'catch up' while you're working with air tools...

 

That is very important. You definitely want a compressor that you dont have to wait for it to fill back up every time you use a tool. If you are doing a teardown and resto, I foresee a lot of cutting and grinding in your future. These sorts of air tools use A LOT of air. You want a compressor capable of running one of these tools without lagging.

That said, I personally prefer a conventional "oil filled" type compressor over the less expensive "oilless" variety. The oil filled ones tend to be somewhat quieter, more reliable, and usually wont overheat with continuous heavy use. The oil filled type will also hold up better running in a shop or garage that has a lot of bondo/rust/fiberglass dust floating around in the air. Air cleaner and oil changes will keep it running well.

As for the tools themselves, I recommend you go to Harbor Freight and go cheap. Here's why. These days, there is little to no noticeable quality difference between HF air tools, and tools from Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, or Sears. If you look at them side by side, they all pretty much come from the same factory in China. You wont notice a difference until you start buying off of tool trucks and paying 4x more for air tools.

 

Not really.

Some careful shopping will find air tools made in Japan. Now I don't know about you, but I'm very confident in buying Japanese products...

Home Depot and Tractor Supply come to mind as having Japanese-made air tools.

The only thing I buy from HF is blasting media.

 

Tractor Supply carries a lot of IR tools now. The first impact gun I ever got was from there, It was IR and Chinese. It only lasted about a year. Got another one... A year or 3. Finally stopped buying those and got a new Matco about a year ago (Taiwan made). To my knowledge, the only way to get US made IR tools is to go through Grainger. Dont quote me on that, however.

Ive never actually seen Japanese made air tools, myself.